SC dismisses Malegaon poll pleas; AIMIM wins relief

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed pleas challenging the election of AIMIM’s Mufti Mohammad Ismail Abdul Khalique as MLA from the Malegaon central constituency in the 2024 Maharashtra assembly polls.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Augustine George Masih and Sandeep Mehta passed the order while hearing two separate petitions challenging a June 8 Bombay High Court judgment.

The high court had rejected an election petition challenging Khalique’s election.

The Maharashtra assembly elections were held in November 2024, and Khalique was declared elected from the Malegaon Central constituency by a margin of 162 votes. One of the candidates who lost the election from the Malegaon Central constituency filed the election petition before the High Court.

The petitioner assailed Khalique’s election, alleging that he committed “corrupt practices” as defined under the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

The election petition claimed that Khalique was a religious leader and had influenced the minds of the constituency’s voters with a “threat of divine displeasure or spiritual censure”.

The election petition before the High Court had also alleged that an attempt was made to influence the voters on the grounds of gender by distributing pamphlets that people who elected a woman as their leader could never prosper. Two women candidates were in the fray.

It also claimed that votes were sought on the grounds of religion and by appealing to the electorate’s religious sentiments.

Khalique had filed an application in the High Court seeking dismissal of the election petition.

He had told the High Court that allegations in the election petition were “vague, unsubstantiated and baseless”.

The High Court held that the election petition failed to make out a complete cause of action to merit trial.

“Resultantly, the application (filed by Khalique) deserves to be allowed, and the election petition is liable to be rejected,” it had said.